Electronic legal deposit

Under the Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print) Works Regulations 2013, the Bodleian Libraries and the five other legal deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland preserve and give access to electronic books, articles, web pages and other electronic documents published in the UK.

At the Bodleian Libraries we refer to this material as electronic Legal Deposit (eLD). Electronic Legal Deposit provides the University, and those who use its libraries, with access to an organized and catalogued archive of the country's electronically published output, preserved in perpetuity for future generations.

This is the electronic equivalent of print legal deposit. Since 2013, publishers have been able to choose to deposit in print or electronic format. However, print deposit remains the default format until a publisher has successfully registered for electronic deposit with the British Library.

  • Use the Bodleian Libraries’ resource discovery tool SOLO to find what electronic Legal Deposit material is held.
  • For more information on how to access and electronic Legal Deposit, visit our Electronic Legal Deposit guide
  • Search the UK Web Archive to access web resources that have been harvested under legal deposit legislation.